"Al, calm the fuck down and eat your fucking toast before I shove it straight down your goddamn throat." Kasy snarled, ripping a chunk from her own slice of slightly burnt toast. Today had not been her day so far.

She woke up late after hours of listening to loved up Rosie (who is currently with Scorpo-boy over at the Slytherin table). A bunch of quidditch groupies kept pestering her about the trials, why she didn't get captain, and how come she was automatically put on the team. Peeves unfortunately caught her on her way to breakfast, pouring red paint over her in 'Gryffindor Pride' (I swear that guy's a born and bred Slytherin, no matter what they say." And to top it all off, a Howler's heading our way, and it sure as hell ain't for me.

"KASY APHRODITE WOOD!" Her mother's voice screeched across the Hall, getting everyone's attention except Kasy's. She suddenly seemed very interested in the shape of her nails.

"HOW DARE YOU ATTACK YOUR SISTER! YOUR OWN FLESH AND BLOOD! DID YOU NOT THINK ABOUT THE BAD ATTENTION WE WOULD GET TO OUR NAME? THE WORST THING IS THAT REBECCA CARES ABOUT YOU SO MUCH THAT SHE DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME HERSELF. INSTEAD, I HAD TO HEAR ABOUT IT IN OUR SLUGCLUB REUNION! A REUNION KASY!!! CAN YOU NOT THINK OF HOW EMBARRASSED AND ASHAMED I WAS, TO HEAR ABOUT YOU ATTACKING MY DAUGHTER, YOUR SISTER, IN FRONT OF ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO RESPECT AND ADMIRE ME? I DON'T CARE ABOUT GENETICS, THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL THAT YOU ARE MY DAU-"

The Howler burst into flames. Bright blue flames that caught it mid-scream, reducing it from a writhing figure to a small pile of sparking ashes in seconds. I turned to Kasy, taking in the locked jaw and flashing eyes. Yikes. Remind me to never get on her bad side on a bad day (not that I'd want to in the first place).

"Transfiguration?" I asked, leaning across to grab her bag along with my own. She smiled faintly, ignoring the incredulous stares we got from the rest of the Hall. Howler's were rare enough these days; making one spontaneously combust without uttering a word or even moving? That was as rare as horcruxes.

"Who said chivalry was dead?" Kasy smirked, nodding to where her bag hung on my shoulder.

"Ah, no. It's as dead as...as a phoenix."

"But phoenixes die all the time Al. They're just reborn."

I smiled, leading her up the stairs to the classroom.

"But that's just like chivalry. Compare James and me. Dead, and reborn."

She laughed at this, shaking her head at the comment. But she'd seen James first hand, along with the rest of my family, so knew exactly what I meant.

"Hey, guys, wait up!" Aidan called from behind us. "Cool trick back there Kas. It's unfair how I can barely manage 'Alohomora' and you're out there doing wandless and speechless magic. Anyway, you two ready for the trials?"

And then my stomach collapsed. Kasy groaned as I whimpered quietly, resting her head on Aidan's shoulder.

"Help me Aidan. I can't take anymore disasters! Everything was perfect and now...what the fuck made Merlin do this to me?" She tugged at a strand of her hair, which was still luminous red in places. Peeves definitely had some good tricks up his sleeve- it took Pomfrey 20 minutes to remove it from one side alone. The rest wouldn't budge.

I sighed, watching Aidan's face crease with amusement as he took in the random highlights scattered throughout her hair. Huffing loudly, Kasy turned and stared at the door to McGonagall's room as if it had deeply offended her. Or killed her hamster.

"And now you've overslept and are taking things way out of proportion. Just calm down, and don't turn McGonagall into a lump of ash at the bottom of a jug of pumpkin juice unless you really have to." Aidan smiled, pulling Kasy into a hug. She'd told him about her and Scorp's ingenious plan on Monday, but he stayed clear, saying that he didn't want to run the risk of being vulnerable to the wrath of Rose again. Instead he was the one who waited with a few plates of celebratory (or 'better luck next time' depending on the outcome) cookies in the common room/ Ever since second year he'd turned into the big brother she needed, while I was the best friend. Always the best friend.

"Come along class. Sit down. No talking." McGonagall demanded, her eyes sweeping across us like a hawk. Me, Aidan and Kasy sat in the row of four at the back, Kasy between the two of us. Rose sat next to Scorpius at the front, much to Kasy's anger. Despite our love for 'Scorose' (this place has a thing for couple names), we'd turned into shadows over the past few hours, while Scorpius held her only light. It was sickening. They'd only been official since last night, so in reality, this was just freaky. But for them, they were in what was called the 'honeymoon phase'. Where everything and everyone craps rainbows and eats fairies and nothing ever goes wrong. It was sickening.

"Today we are going to be revising on Gamp's Law of Elemented Transfiguration. Please get your notebooks out and keep quiet!"

And so began the most boring Transfiguration lesson of my entire life. McGonagall stood at the front, retelling us the five laws and their exceptions. Rose and Scorpius were gazing at each other dreamily, barely registering the fact that we were actually in a lesson, nor the paper aeroplanes I was aiming at their heads. Aidan was watching me in amusement, occasionally jotting something down that McGonagall said. And Kasy was doodling. A Hippogriff. With an army of pygmy puff zombies. That were attacking her sister and mother and the posse of girls that were giggling from the other side of the room. It was times like this that I saw why Rose hated her abilities- as soon as her quill hit the page, the figure was instantly charmed and moving around, eating the brains and screaming and stuff.

"Remember, all your other lessons have been cancelled due to Professor Kane's new trial times. Hufflepuff is first, beginning in twenty minutes. Please, no hexing of the other teams' possible players."

I smiled, a vivid picture of James flashing through my mind.

"Mr Potter, one more paper aeroplane in my lesson and I will have to dock points. Miss Weasley and Mr Malfoy, please leave your couple nonsense for outside of my class. I thought that Mr Potter's messages would have been enough of a warning."

"It'll be fine. Both of you- though sorry Al, you're going hugless. I'll be watching from the stands, armed with cocoa and chocolate and coffee."

"My three favourite 'C's." Kasy murmured as I hummed in agreement. We both leant so our heads rested on either of his shoulders. To any outsider, we probably looked extremely weird.

"Oh my God, can you believe her? We were totally not doing any 'coupley nonsense'! Urgh! And now everyone is making fun of us, along with that stupid couple name. Why can't people just stay the fuck out of it?"

To say Rose had changed slightly over the past, oh, 15 hours, would be a serious understatement. All she ever talked about was Scorpius; I hadn't heard her utter the word 'trials' all day! In fact, this was the first time I'd heard her utter any word today! Very worrying.

"Rose. Shut it or fuck it. We have trials, and if I hear one more word about your undenying love for freaking Scorpius Malfoy, I swear to Merlin I'm changing to be a beater with Ricky!"

We all shut up then, walking in tense silence to the common room. Aidan slung his arm over Kasy's shoulders to try and calm her down, muttering something that sounded a lot like 'house elves' in her ear, causing the dark aura that hung over her like a cloud to lift slightly. When they had disappeared down a corridor to the kitchens, Rose turned to me with her nose pinched.

"What's wrong with her? Am I really being that annoying? It's just...it's amazing! Me and Scorpius! I just can't get over it at all."

I sighed, looking Rose right in her brown eyes. Out of my ten cousins excluding my brother and sister), Rose was definitely my favourite.

"No. It's sickening, but sweet. Just don't forget us, okay? Cos I'm sure Kasy has a plan to kick you back into shape if you do."

Rose rolled her eyes.

"But she's having a bad day. She woke up late, got attacked by some fan girls, got paint bombed by Peeves, set fire to her Mum's howler and didn't even get to finish her toast! And with the trials in a few hours, well, you know how she gets. All agitated and everything. That's why Aidan's stolen her for chocolate and lemonade."

Rose nodded, satisfied with this.

"Cool. Want a game of Exploding Snap before you go psycho and revise every Quidditch move that has ever crossed your path?"

I paused, pushing the images of the Quidditch plays that were sitting under my bed from this morning.

"Sure, why not?"

~

I gazed down at the bright of faces of a good fifty people. Rose, Kasy, Ricky and Evangeline were by my left, ready to redo their own trials. I knew they'd get in either way, but it was a requirement now.

"Hey everyone!" I bellowed, silencing everyone's mindless chatter about their brooms and how cute it was that Scorpius was in the stands for Rose. Yeah right, more like for ideas. Thief. I spotted Aidan a few rows above him, sporting a bright Gryffindor scarf and his oversized farmer's jacket. It was his Dad's.

"Right. So we're going to do Keepers first, then Beaters, and finally Chasers. Any first or seconds years, or any people who aren't actually here for the try outs, please leave now."

About seven left. 45 to go.

I caught Kasy's eye just as I started shouting out instructions for the Keeper trials. The fire was back, lighting up her face as she tugged her unruly hair back into a tight bun. It burnt straight from her to me, reminding me just why I got this position. Because I love it.

~

Kasy's P.O.V.

To say my day hadn't been good would be a quick and painless summary. No cunning poltergeists, no screeching Howler's, no love-struck besties, no Quidditch trials. Only lemonade and chocolate and watching the trials from my pre-elected post.

Alas, life doesn't work like that. Though I did receive lemonade and chocolate, I also got the cunning poltergeist, screeching Howler, love-struck bestie and Quidditch trials. Which is where I am now, doing metres wide laps to try and stop my arse from freezing up.

Al looks like he's on fire. He's in his element here, just like James had been. The only difference is that Quidditch was James's only element. Albus also loved DADA and Transfiguration and Ancient Runes. But out here, where the wind and the sun and the plain distance stopped you from seeing the differentiating features, you could easily get the two mixed up. Actually, that happened a lot during the commentary last year.

I glance around, catching Aidan's eye. He looks cold, but gives me a large, cheesy grin anyway. I smile back, sticking my tongue out at him for good measure. He only shook his head at my immaturity, turning back to where the previous Chaser group was finishing up. The Keeper trials had been a lack. Evangeline threw the quaffles at the kids, while Ricky hit a few unsuspecting bludgers. We had countless shots in, and lost three of them to the hospital wing when they didn't dodge the bludgers quick enough. Rose was the winner by far, saving all of Evangeline's shots and only getting a slight graze from the bludger, but that was a choice. She had to either let the quaffle through or risk getting hit.

"Right...Kasy, Laura and Ben." Al called out from his sheet. I smiled at Laura as we flew up together, listening to Al tell us about the positions he wanted us to try. They were simple ones, and should have been easy to perform, even when I didn't know my fellow Chaser's that well.

"Hey Laura. I didn't know you played Quidditch." I commented as we hurtled across the pitch, passing the quaffle between the few metre spaces between us.

"Started in the holidays. Thought it was time for something new." She answered, nearly dropping the quaffle as a bludger whizzed past a few metres away. She was jitterish, which was not a good thing.

"Cool. Ben!" I shouted over the rush of air against my face, knowing my voice would be lost in the speed of myself. Luckily Ben heard me, tossing me the quaffle (which I had to do a weird side lunge thing to catch), and letting em score. Rose was squared up, ready to catch it. She thought I was going to bluff the left. I went left, and scored.

"Awesome Kas. Some good passing Laura and Ben. Right...Evangeline, Sal and Jordan. Then I just have to sort through this lot..." Al muttered to himself, chewing on his lip worriedly. I smiled to myself, collapsing on the grass by the stands.

"Hey Kasy. Some good playing out there. Rose seemed pretty pissed that she missed." Aidan commented, appearing above me.

"Yeah, she did. I know her too well. She's too worried about getting the position to look and realise that she knows me just as well. So I scored. Usually we'd be predicting each other's moves to our death." I answered, glancing to where the final three were playing. Sal was good, passing swiftly between Evangeline and Jordan. Jordan, a fifth year, was a bit clumsier, her thick blonde waves shadowing her facial expressions. Al would take down points for that.

"Brilliant Sal! Loved the Noose Dive Evan. And Jordan, that was some good arm you've got there." Al commented with a smile. "Right. That's it everyone. I'll just be five minutes with the results."

And then he walked inside the changing rooms, leaving us to wallow in our fears. Rose, Sal, Laura and Evangeline joined me on the grass, while Aidan gazed down at us in amusement. Scorpius made an appearance, letting Rose rest her head on his chest. It was super sweet.

"Hey! All done!" Al cried, running up a few steps of the stands so he was taller than us all. We stood up, biting our lips and chewing our nails nervously. "Okay. Our Keeper is Rose Weasley." Cheers. Especially from me and Scorpius. "Our Chasers are Kasy Wood," Cheers again. From Rose and Aidan, "Evangeline Lockhart," More cheers, "And Sal Grant." Slightly confused cheers, though none emitted from Laura, who I thought to be Sal's best friend. Funny. "And finally, we have Ricky Sykes and Luke Fields as our beaters. Thanks everyone else who tried out, it was a really hard choice between all you lot."

Me and Rose threw ourselves at each other in a large hug, happy to be able to do another year of Quidditch. Everyone was giving each other hugs and congratulating the ones who made it, while I saw Aidan offering Al something in a large soup flask. So he wasn't joking when he said he'd be armed.

I was just about to go and ask if he brought any coffee when a large shadow caught my attention, just in time for me to see a Bludger smack into my ribs.

~

Albus' P.O.V.

Ricky. I was going to kill him. You give the guy his position, and what does he do? He gives the Bludger a celebratory whack. And who does it hit? Kasy of course. She's lying on the hospital bed, wincing as Madame Pomfrey plays around, trying to figure out what's broken and what's bruised.

Me, Aidan and Rose are sitting on the bed by hers. I'm silently plotting Ricky's untimely murder. Rose is flicking through Witch Weekly and commenting on which hairstyles would really suit Kasy. Aidan is drinking hot chocolate, doing some random snorts when he replays the incident in his head, causing Kasy to laugh, which causes her to be in pain, which makes Aidan laugh again. It's a deadly cycle.

You see, instead of staying down or passing out like a normal person after being hit by a bludger in the ribs, Kasy decided that she would hex Ricky to whimpering ashes before collapsing on the ground in a mess of bloody Quidditch robes and tattered hair. Ricky was currently unconscious in a bed on the far side of the Hospital Wing, so we couldn't add to his damage. McGonagall decided against giving them detentions or anything, saying that they both appeared to have learnt their lessons.

Kasy let out a gasp of pain, recollecting my attention. Madame Pomfrey was adding a salve to her side, underneath the hospital robes she'd been forced to change into.

"All right Miss Wood. You three can leave. She's taking this sleeping potion now, and won't wake till tomorrow lunchtime."

Kasy sent us all a pleading look, landing on me for longer than the other's. I was the only one who really knew her true fear of hospitals.

"Sorry Kas. We'll visit as soon as we can." I murmured, reaching over and giving her hand a squeeze. She smiled back, taking the potion and downing it like a shot.

"You'd better. I expect...chocola...choco...ch..." She trailed off, her red curls emphasising just how pale her face had turned. I sighed, standing up and getting ready to go back to the common room. Rose breathed out sharply, leaving her magazine on the bed.

"Today really wasn't her day, was it?"

~~~

Author's Note

So, I think last time I said something about updating quicker? Well...no. I was posting other stories (please check them out!), and then I wrote half of this up, and then I had writer's block, and then I had my drama show, where we were preparing for the ENTIRE week, and then I was ill (it was one of those ewwww viruses), and then just as I was going to post it my computer went BOOM and deleted it. So I've typed it up again. Please accept my apology (I am sooo sorry and will be amazed if all you lot are still reading!) and review! (I'll reply ASAP- no promises with the update though. Just in case.) :)